Kissing Before a Drakon
by DeltaStrike777
Summary: What if Percy does pull Annabeth aside before they go fight the Drakon in The Last Olympian. What if he manages to confess his feelings. First Kiss. Slightly more serious and realistic Percy. Rated T because I am paranoid and this is my first story. One-Shot.


The war raged around us. Sirens of broken cars blasted in the background. The drakon's throaty roar from three clicks away served as background noise. The sky was alight with stars but the horizon was tinged with fire.

But at the time, the only thing I saw was her. Annabeth. She was dressed in armor gifted to her by Athena. It covered her from head to thigh, but I had never thought she looked more beautiful. Her golden hair flowed around her like a halo. I known I am a Greek demigod, but at time I wished I was Norse. She looked like a Valkyrie who came to take me to Valhalla.

Her sniffle broke me out of my reverie. I realized there were blotch marks near her eye, where she had been crying. She said, "I help my friends". It was her response to my moronic question of whether she would help me. It broke me.

My fatal flaw was supposed to be loyalty. I knew Annabeth would die for me – she nearly had just two days ago. Then why did I continue to doubt that she would come?

The answer came to me – Rachel. I have never loved her, but she was the safer choice. She offered me a chance at normality, a safe haven away from camp where everyone expected me to be a leader, a hero. With her, I was just Percy. But I knew now, she was just a distraction. She meant nothing more to me than a friend. She never would. My heart would always belong with Annabeth.

Annabeth was the one who meant the world to me. She had to know it. She must know it, she knew everything, I have never known anyone smarter. This was about more than that though. If she didn't return my affections, I would be crushed. I wouldn't be able to fight off a few hellhounds, forget about Kronos. But those reasons were all just lies my consciousness was telling me to cover the lies. I knew the real answer – fear.

A vivid memory came to me – her crying, a tetherball spinning, Annabeth's back as she turned away angrily. She called me a "coward". Was she referring to us? Or was she mocking me for being afraid of my Kronos, my impending death? It was a conundrum.

But in that moment, I made a choice. I didn't have much time, and if I died I wanted her to know the truth. Because in many ways she was as loyal as me. If I was right, she wouldn't move on after I died in my battle with Kronos. If I managed to win, sacrificing myself to keep the world going, I wanted her to move on. I wanted her to find someone better, if I was right, I was giving her closure, and I would be fulfilling a life-long dream. If I was wrong – well, I was about to die in 24 hours anyways. It would suck fighting Kronos with a black eye.

Some last-minute doubts crept up: Did she love me back? What if I was reading the signs wrong, what if she didn't love me back?

But I made the leap of faith.

I pulled her towards a side-alley.

"Hey –". Her cry of indignancy was cut off as I lifted her helm with the intricate owls off her head and tossed it aside. I looked into those tantalizing grey eyes. They always terrified me, and right now was no different. A shiver went down my spine, just like the ones that occur when my body sensed a monster. Hmm. Maybe I didn't have a monster sense, maybe I had a danger sense like Spiderman. And what I was about to do was terrifying indeed.

But I also saw kindness in those eyes, a softness in her lips, and a tenderness in her cheeks.

I gently lifted her chin up and kissed her.

She smelled like lemons and honeysuckle. Her lips tasted like the strawberries from camp. The best ones, those blessed by the wine-god himself, not the ones his children grew.

Then, I noticed that she wasn't returning the kiss. My body froze. I felt like my heart about to crack like the Hudson river in the first days of spring.

But then she returned the kiss, with seemingly more passion than I could ever muster. I pulled her closer with one hand on her waist and deepened the kiss. Every neuron in my body seemed to be firing. It felt like the first time I drank nectar and the feeling of pure goodness washed over me, but this… This was even better.

After what felt like an eternity had passed we broke apart. Her hands were around my chest resting on my shoulder blades. Mine were still on delicate waist.

Her smile made my heart swell. It was genuine smile. One of the ear-splitting grins of pure unadulterated joy. Not the tight smiles she had sported for the last few weeks, not her snarky little smirks for when I messed up. A genuine smile, my life's purpose seemed achieved. I wasn't meant to fight Kronos, I was meant to make her smile.

She broke me out of my line of thought by pulling me closer and resting her head on my shoulder.

"Finally" she signed. It was so adorable.

"Sorry to keep you waiting mi' lady. But kissing you was more terrifying than facing Hyperion. Oooff – A punch to the gut, should have seen that one coming"

She giggled into my shoulder.

Oh Gods, it had been so long since I heard her truly happy. But I knew what I had to do next.

"Annabeth, listen. This is serious" She looked up, suddenly her eyes conveyed fear and anguish and desperation. "I am not going to survive the fight with Kronos"

"Percy! Don't talk like that. Listen, you are going to kill this drakon first, then you are going to rip Kronos from limb to limb. Then you are going to take me someplace nice. And then you are going to get me a ring, do you understand!"

I just looked at her in shock, over the ring thing.

"Oh my gods. I scared you off with the whole ring thing. Silena told me not to do this…" she looked about ready to explode into tears again.

"Annabeth I am not upset. Trust me, I would buy you the biggest ring in the world"

"I would say yes, you know"

Inside, my heart did a triple backflip. But I somehow managed to keep my face neutral. "Annabeth, look, we need to face facts, I am going to be dead in twenty-four hours. Hopefully, I manage to save the world. You are gonna have to move on"

"Don't say that"

"Annabeth… Find a nice guy after all this is over. Maybe another architect, you would like that no?"

She looked at me fiercely and nearly screamed at me, "Look here Percy Jackson, you are not going to die tomorrow, you are going to live, and I just want you to know, my heart belongs to you. I love you! I will never love another. Do you understand? You need to promise me you will do everything tomorrow to live! Do you get that!"

I nodded wordlessly. She loved me. Just as I was about to reply, I heard the drakon's screech. It was close, less than thirty seconds out.

Annabeth, ever my battle-partner picked up her helm, kissed me full on the mouth, and said, "Let's go Seaweed Brain"

I knew then that it didn't matter what happened with Kronos tomorrow, I would always be her Seaweed Brain and she would always be my Wise Girl.

 _ **Months later in a Manhattan apartment.**_

"Wise Girl, why do I have to do Calculus?"

"Because I am not getting married to a high-school dropout" she muttered as she scribbled down ideas for her English Essay.

"You know, you hold that promise ring against me way too much"

"Oh yeah, well you should have thought about it before giving it to me"

I grasped her hand and looked straight at her, "I don't regret a thing"

"I know". Percy knew this was a romantic moment, he could always tell with Annabeth because of the way her eyes softened.

Perfect time to spring his trap – the tried and tested baby-seal eyes.

"Now can you help me, please?"


End file.
